Yale SPORE in Lung Cancer News

Sarah Goldberg, MD, MPH, associate professor, internal medicine (medical oncology), associate director, Medical Oncology-Hematology Program, research director, Center for Thoracic Cancers, chief, Thoracic Oncology, Yale School of Medicine, discusses ongoing investigations with antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and bispecific antibodies in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring EGFR mutations.

Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital scientists and clinicians will present new research at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), June 2nd to June 6th at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. This year’s scientific program will feature more than 2,900 abstracts, covering all major diseases and research areas, including breast, lung, head and neck, gynecological, prostate, and gastric cancers.

Patients with treatment-naive resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with neoadjuvant durvalumab plus chemotherapy and adjuvant durvalumab monotherapy had improved event-free survival and pathologic complete response rates compared with those who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone, according to an interim analysis of event-free survival and a final analysis of pathologic complete response in the phase III AEGEAN trial reported at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2023 Annual Meeting.

Each year, Connecticut Magazine recognizes some of the state’s best physicians, who provide exceptional care for patients, with its annual “Top Doctors” issue. This year’s list includes 82 physicians from Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in the state.

Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, discusses the implications of the phase 3 AEGEAN trial (NCT03800134) in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). At the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting, preliminary findings from the phase 3 trial were read out from the first interim analysis. The AEGEAN trial evaluated patients that received perioperative durvalumab (Imfinzi) plus neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy compared with placebo with chemotherapy, Herbst begins, noting that the trial was positive. Investigators reported a hazard ratio of 0.68 and a 32% improvement in event-free survival (EFS). Moreover, the pathologic complete response rate was 17.2% compared with 4.3% in the control arm. However, the median follow-up was only 11.7 months, so the data are still early, Herbst expands.

After excluding patients with targetable EGFR/ALK alterations, the team randomly allocated 740 patients who had good performance status (ECOG 0 or 1) to receive either neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy plus adjuvant immunotherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone.

From cancer vaccine efficacy to developments in lung cancer, Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, medical oncology, chief of medical oncology at Yale Cancer Center, discusses key clinical highlights from practice-changing research presented during the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. Dr. Herbst, who chairs AACR’s Scientific Policy and Government Affairs Committee, also discusses the organization’s policy efforts and shares what has him excited about this year’s gathering.

Recent studies from Marie Robert, MD, and David Rimm, MD, PhD, highlight the challenges pathologists face when interpreting PD-L1 expression using the combined positive score method of interpretation of immunohistochemistry results for patients with gastric/gastroesophageal junction/esophageal cancers.

Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, PhD (hc), has been elected president-elect of American Association for Cancer Research for 2023-2024.